CreatureData

White-tailed swallow

Hirundo megaensis Benson, 1942

VUVulnerablesongbirds

The white-tailed swallow (Hirundo megaensis) is a species in the family Hirundinidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh about 11 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.

White-tailed swallow (Hirundo megaensis)
Photo: Peter Wilton · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the white-tailed swallow

Weight
11 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
shrublandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
4src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the white-tailed swallow live?

Not recorded

What is the white-tailed swallow?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The white-tailed swallow (Hirundo megaensis) is a small swallow belonging to the family Hirundinidae and is endemic to Oromia, Ethiopia. It is commonly referred to as "Benson's swallow" after the ornithologist Constantine Walter Benson, who described the species. This small bird is classified as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as there is a progressive declination of the species which now consists of less than 10,000 adult individuals worldwide. It has a surprisingly small range for a swallow, as it is wholly dependent on a cooler "bubble" surrounding its small range, likely for proper breeding success. It is one of the most threatened bird species by climate change and a massive range reduction is projected in the future.

From the Wikipedia article “White-tailed swallow” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White-tailed_swallow&oldid=1352902764), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the white-tailed swallow endangered?

The white-tailed swallow is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.

How is the white-tailed swallow classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPasseriformes
  5. familyHirundinidae
  6. genusHirundo
  7. SpeciesHirundo megaensis Benson, 1942

Synonyms Hirundo magaensis

Other names and names in other languages (36)
  • WTSWEnglish
  • سنونو أبيض الذيلArabic
  • oreneta de SidamoCatalan
  • vlaštovka etiopskáCzech
  • gwennol gynffonwenWelsh
  • Hvidhalet SvaleDanish
  • WeißschwanzschwalbeGerman
  • blankvosta hirundoEsperanto
  • Golondrina coliblancaSpanish
  • Golondrina de cola blancaSpanish
  • valgesaba-pääsukeEstonian
  • valkopyrstöpääskyFinnish
  • Hirondelle à queue blancheFrench
  • bjelorepa lastavicaCroatian
  • fehérfarkú fecskeHungarian
  • Rondine codabiancaItalian
  • オジロツバメJapanese
  • baltauodegė šelmeninė kregždėLithuanian
  • Ош пачан цӹгӓкWestern Mari
  • hvithalesvaleNorwegian Bokmål
  • WitstaartzwaluwDutch
  • hvitstjertsvaleNorwegian
  • jaskółka białosternaPolish
  • andorinha-de-cauda-brancaPortuguese
  • Rândunică cu coadă albăRomanian
  • Белохвостая ласточкаRussian
  • Белохвостая настоящая ласточкаRussian
  • Белохвостая (настоящая) ласточкаRussian
  • lastovička bielochvostáSlovak
  • Belorepa lastaSerbian
  • VitstjärtssvalaSwedish
  • vitstjärtad svalaSwedish
  • Ak Kuyruklu KırlangıçTurkish
  • ластівка білохвостаUkrainian
  • Nhạn đuôi trắngVietnamese
  • 白尾燕Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the white-tailed swallow

Other species in the same genus Hirundo.

CompareWhite-tailed swallow vs Barn swallowWhite-tailed swallow vs Wire-tailed swallowWhite-tailed swallow vs Tahiti swallowWhite-tailed swallow vs Ethiopian swallow

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the white-tailed swallow?

An adult white-tailed swallow weighs 11 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the white-tailed swallow endangered?

The white-tailed swallow is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

What kind of animal is the white-tailed swallow?

The white-tailed swallow (Hirundo megaensis) belongs to the family Hirundinidae in the order Passeriformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). White-tailed swallow (Hirundo megaensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-tailed-swallow

MLA

“White-tailed swallow (Hirundo megaensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-tailed-swallow.

BibTeX
@misc{white_tailed_swallow_2026,
  title = {White-tailed swallow (Hirundo megaensis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-tailed-swallow},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}